Three online sushi takeaway services operating from the bedroom of a suburban house in Santry, north Co Dublin, have been told to close after a joint operation between the HSE and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
Health inspectors discovered the three unregistered sushi takeaways advertising online and staged an immediate inspection.
The premises which turned out to be a house in a suburban estate, produced raw fish with cooked rice, without any hygiene or temperature controls.
It was being sold as takeaway food under three separate businesses advertised online.
Chief executive of the FSAI Dr Pamela Byrne said the operation was “totally unacceptable and poses a very serious risk to consumers’ health”.
Sushi is a very high-risk product because it contains raw fish which must be kept chilled to reduce the growth of dangerous bacteria, the FSAI said.
It said cooked rice, which is a ready-to-eat product, must also be kept chilled. But the bedroom-based operation traded online under three different names, without a food safety management system or monitoring of “the cold chain” and “no evidence of traceability of raw ingredients” the health inspectors found.
The inspectors also found breaches of food safety controls and record keeping as well as food being produced, processed and distributed in an unsatisfactory and unclean environment.
The three online takeaway services closed were listed as:
* Koi Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9
* Nagoya Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9
* Kyoto Sushi (Takeaway), 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9
The closure orders were served on Johnathan Barbosa in respect of Koi Sushi takeaway; Bruno Barbosa in respect of Nagoya Sushi and Paulo Ricardo Barbosa of Kyoto Sushi, all at the same suburban house at 1 Shanvarna Road, Santry, Dublin 9.
Separately, HSE environmental health officers made five closure orders during the month, citing a range of issues from a live rodent being observed running across a rear wall; evidence of extensive rodent activity throughout food preparation and storage areas and rodent droppings and gnawed foodstuffs, all of which posed “a serious risk of contamination”, the authority said.
In addition to the three takeaway sushi services, the FSAI also reported the HSE had served closure orders on TFS Wholesale, Unit 6 & 7 Colomane, Bantry, Co Cork and Speedos (Restaurant/ Café), 8 Tuckey Street, Cork city.
Health inspectors said the premises occupied by The Funky Skunk (Cork) Limited at Unit 6 & 7 Colomane, Bantry, Co Cork and trading as TFS Wholesale displayed “the presence of a live rodent plus evidence of extensive rodent droppings and activity” which “posed a grave and immediate danger to public health”.
In relation to Speedos Restaurant in Cork city, the health inspectors said there was evidence of recent rodent activity and droppings which posed a risk to food contamination and human health.
The FSAI operates an online complaint form at fsai.ie
